The Ecology Forum

History of the Ecology Forum

Initiated by Professor Werner Buchner, Ministerial Director in the former Bavarian Ministry for Development and the Environment, the ‘Commission for Ecology’ at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities was founded in 1986. In 2015, the commission’s name was changed to ‘Ecology Forum’ as part of a structural reform at the Academy.

Founding of the Commission for Ecology

The Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW installs a discussion group tasked with the formation of a ‘commission for ecology.’ The group included the following members of the academy:

Klaus Betke (Medicine)

Horst Hagedorn (Geography)

Otto Kandler (Microbiology, botany)

Otto L. Lange (Botany, ecology)

Gerhard Neuweiler (Zoology)

Heinrich Nöth (Chemistry)

Dietrich Schneider (Zoology)

Hubert Ziegler (Botany)

05.07.1985

At its first meeting, the group requests the Executive Secretary of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW, Hansjochem Autrum, to constitute a Commission for Ecology. The following experts were proposed as additional members:

Dietrich Herm (Geology, paleontology)

Wolfgang Haber (Landscape ecology)

Karl-Eugen Rehfuess (Forstry)

Udo Schwertmann (Soil science)

09.05.1986

The members of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW unanimously votes for the constitution of a Commission for Ecology. Professor Neuweiler agrees to chair the commission.

20.02.1987

First meeting of the members of the new Commission for Ecology. Two additional experts are suggested to the Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW:

Josef Fittkau (Zoology)

Dietrich Henschler (Toxicology)

30.03.1988

Professor Hubert Ziegler is elected chair of the commission. Under his guidance, the series „Round-Table Discussions of the Commission for Ecology” is initiated, in collaboration with the publisher Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich. Under Professor Ziegler’s guidance (1988 - 2009), the commission organized 37 Round-Table discussions and two other events.

Overview of all Chairmen

Chairman

Deputy Chairman

1986 to 1988

Gerhard Neuweiler

1988 to 2009

Hubert Ziegler

Dietrich Herm

2009 to 2014

Karl Stetter

Dietrich Herm

since 2014

Susanne S. Renner

Erwin Grill

Restructuring to Ecology Forum

As part of a structural evaluation of the BAdW in 2015, the commission gains an outside Advisory Board with a chairman who is a meber of the BAdW, but not a member of the commission. Until 2015, the Commission for Ecology had met 111 times.